Nearly 3 million Americans filed unemployment claims in the week ending May 9, according to seasonally adjusted data released May 14 by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The count represents a decrease of 195,000 from the previous week's revised level of 3.18 million.
Overall, Americans filed more than 36 million unemployment claims in the last two months, The New York Times reported, citing the government data.
The newspaper noted it is difficult to know precisely how many workers may have been rehired after the most recent shelter-in-place restrictions were lifted in states due to delays in data. And the Connecticut Department of Labor tweeted that the May 14 report shows the state with 298,680 unemployment claims filed in the week ending May 9 when the correct number is 29,846.
The latest government data comes after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the U.S. lost 20.5 million jobs in April, and the unemployment rate reached 14.7 percent, the highest since the Great Depression. The healthcare industry has not been immune with 1.4 million jobs lost in April, primarily in ambulatory healthcare services.
Read the full Times report here.